U.S. court hears appeal to ease parts of Texas abortion law

(Reuters) - A federal court heard an appeal from Planned
Parenthood and other advocacy groups on Monday to a relax
restrictive abortion law in Texas that has caused a dozen
clinics to suspend services.

The law requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a
hospital within 30 miles (50 km) of the clinic where the
abortion is performed in case women have complications.

Given the vast size of Texas, the requirement places an
unjust burden on clinics, Planned Parenthood, the Center for
Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union,
which filed the appeal, told a three-judge panel in Louisiana.

Only four of the 12 clinics that had suspended procedures
have been able to resume procedures after meeting the
requirements of the law that went into effect in late October
2013.

"It's hard to tell what the court is going to do but
everything in this case has happened really quickly, so we're
looking at maybe a few weeks for an opinion," said Janet Crepps,
an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals court in Louisiana,
which is hearing the current appeal, on Oct. 31 reinstated a
restriction that was blocked by a lower court, thus allowing
nearly all of the state's sweeping anti-abortion law to go into
effect.

The case then went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined
to block implementation of the law on Nov. 4, allowing it to go
into effect.

The current appeal in the circuit court is on the merits of
the challenge, which was not addressed by the Supreme Court.

The law gained national headlines when Democratic state
Senator Wendy Davis spoke against it in the Legislature for
several hours, gaining her a nationwide following and
encouraging her to announce her campaign for Texas governor.

The trend of state lawmakers passing sweeping abortion
legislation rose sharply as more restrictions were enacted
between 2011-2013 than in the entire previous decade, according
to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that
favors abortion but whose research is cited by both sides in the
debate.

Twenty-two states enacted 70 abortion restrictions last year
but courts have temporarily blocked similar admitting privilege
regulations in Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wisconsin,
the report said.

Republican lawmakers who dominate the Texas statehouse have
said they are not trying to block abortion but instead regulate
the procedures in a way that matches the socially conservative
nature of the state.

"These are common sense, and perfectly constitutional,
regulations that further the state's interest in protecting the
health and safety of Texas women," Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott said in a statement. Abbott is the running for governor
on the Republican ticket